The Kalmius is a river flowing through Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. Its source is in the Ukrainian city of Yasynuvata, and its mouth is in Mariupol. The Kalmius is one of two rivers flowing through Mariupol. The other is the Kalchyk, which flows into the Kalmius. The Kalmius flows into the Sea of Azov near the Azovstal steel manufacturing complex in Mariupol. Major cities along the Kalmius are Yasynuvata, Donetsk, Kalmiuske, and Mariupol.
Sloviansk is a city in Donetsk Oblast, northern part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, in the valley of the Kazennyi Torets River, a right tributary of the Donets. The city was known as Tor until 1784. Sloviansk served as the administrative center of the Sloviansk Raion (district) until its abolition on 18 July 2020, though it did not actually belong to the raion itself.
From the end of February 2014, demonstrations by Russian-backed, pro-Russian, and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the ousting of Russian-leaning President Viktor Yanukovych. The unrest, which was supported by Russian military and intelligence, belongs to the early stages of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The following lists events that happened in 2014 in Russia.
The Donetsk People's Republic is an internationally unrecognised republic of Russia in the occupied region of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, with its capital in Donetsk. The DPR was created by Russian-backed paramilitaries in 2014, and it initially operated as a breakaway state until it was annexed by Russia in 2022.
The People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic and People's Militia of the Luhansk People's Republic are pro-Russian paramilitaries in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, under the overall control of the Russian Federation. They are also referred to as Russian separatist forces or Russian proxy forces. They were affiliated with the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) during the war in Donbas (2014–2022), the first stage of the Russo-Ukrainian War. They then supported the Russian Armed Forces against the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the 2022 Russian invasion. In September 2022, Russia annexed the DPR and LPR, and began integrating the paramilitaries into its armed forces. They are designated as terrorist groups by the government of Ukraine.
Referendums on the status of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, parts of Ukraine that together make up the Donbas region, were claimed to have taken place on 11 May 2014 in many towns under the control of the Russian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. These referendums intended to legitimise the establishment of the so-called "republics", in the context of the Russian invasion of Crimea and rising pro-Russian unrest in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution. In addition, a counter-referendum on accession to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast was held in some Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
The war in Donbas, or Donbas war is a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the Donbas region of Ukraine. The war began in April 2014 when armed Russian-backed separatists seized government buildings and the Ukrainian military launched an operation against them. It continued until it was subsumed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Luhansk People's Republic or Lugansk People's Republic is an internationally unrecognised republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitaries in 2014, and it initially operated as a breakaway state until it was annexed by Russia in 2022.
The Azov Assault Brigade is a formation of the National Guard of Ukraine formerly based in Mariupol, in the coastal region of the Sea of Azov, from which it derives its name. It was founded in May 2014 as the Azov Battalion, a volunteer paramilitary militia under the command of Andriy Biletsky to fight pro-Russian forces in the war in Donbas. It was formally incorporated into the National Guard on 11 November 2014, and redesignated Special Operations Detachment "Azov", also known as the Azov Regiment. In February 2023, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Azov was to be expanded as a brigade of the new Offensive Guard.
Insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), backed by Russian troops, opened a new front in the war in Donbas on 25 August 2014, when they attacked the Ukrainian government-controlled city of Novoazovsk in southern Donetsk. Government forces were forced to retreat from Novoazovsk to the city of Mariupol, leaving DPR forces in control.
In late August and early September 2014, Russian and Russian-backed separatist troops supporting the Donetsk People's Republic advanced on the government-controlled port city of Mariupol in southern Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. This followed a wide offensive by Russian-allied forces, which led to their capture of Novoazovsk to the east. Fighting reached the outskirts of Mariupol on 6 September.
A rocket attack on Mariupol was launched on 24 January 2015 by Russian and pro-Russian forces against the strategic maritime city of Mariupol, defended by Ukrainian government forces. Mariupol had come under attack multiple times in the previous year in the course of the War in Donbas, including in May–June 2014, when the city was under the control of Russian controlled forces; and in the September 2014 offensive.
The Shyrokyne standoff was a battle for the control of the strategic village of Shyrokyne, located approximately 11 km (6.8 mi) east of Mariupol city limits, between Ukrainian forces led by the Azov Regiment, and Russian-backed separatists, between February and July 2015. It was part of the larger war in Donbas. On 10 February 2015, the Azov Regiment launched a surprise offensive against pro-Russian separatists associated with the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) with the aim of pushing the separatist forces away from Mariupol city limits. The village is located just 10 km (6.2 mi) from the Ukrainian-controlled city of Mariupol, and was used as a launching point for separatist attacks on the city, which served as the administrative centre of Donetsk Oblast whilst DPR forces control Donetsk city. Fighting continued until 3 July 2015, when DPR forces unilaterally withdrew from Shyrokyne. Subsequently a cease-fire was declared in the area.
Shyrokyne or Shirokino is a village in the Mariupol Raion of Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are areas of Ukraine that are currently controlled by Russia in the course of the Russo-Ukrainian War. In Ukrainian law, they are defined as the "temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine".
This is a timeline of the war in Donbas for the year 2014.
The eastern Ukraine campaign is a theatre of operation in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine affecting oblasts in eastern Ukraine: Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast and Kharkiv Oblast. The invasion is an escalation or intensification of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which had been waging between Ukraine and Russian proxies since 2014.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Russo-Ukrainian War:
Ukraine 
Donetsk 
